Our fellow member, amitava, is an exceptional dance photographer. On another thread today, he commented on the kind of skill needed to do this work.
--------------------------

______________________

My first experience of loving the work of a dance photographer was with Martha Swope, who created unforgettable b&w images of the early decades of the NYCB. (Not to mention that great photo of Balanchine watching Mourka, his cat, as he leaping into a truly prodigious tour en l'air.) (1)

I also admire the work done by Steven Caras, first at NYCB, and now for Miami City Ballet. Caras was a NYCB dancer whose photographic interests were encouraged by Balanchine. He has an uncanny sympathy for the way the dancer's body moves. I guess his most famous photo is not actually of a dance. It's Balanchine's last curtain call ("last bow") at the NY State Theater on closing night, 1982. (2)

Who are the dance photographer's you most admire? And what makes them special?

-- (1) Taper, Balanchine, p. 244.
-- (2) Tributes: Celebrating Fifty Years of New York City Ballet, pp. 112-113.

As a photograher, I agree with your post celebrating Martha Swope and her work. Ballet was truly fortunate to have her.

Paul Kolnick certainly has unlimited access to beauty and he captures it accordingly.

I view ballet photography as a tool paramount in the preservation of the art and it's significant contributions.

Best,
32tendu

Maurice Seymour.
Fred Fehl.
Marty Sohl.
Bernie Gardella.

Still with us:
Jenny Walton
Judy Cameron

In the past:
Alexander Ukladnikov
Baron

Not a strictly a ballet photographer, but has produced beautiful pictures of dancers:
Lord Snowden

I was also an ardent admirer of Martha Swope.
Today I most admire Nina Alovert who has captured brilliant ballet moments, both on and offstage.
I think that our own Marc Haegeman is the supreme ballet portraitist. His closeups of faces and gorgeous studio shots are absolute works of photographic art.

I find very interesting what amitava has written. Having been present at many ballet company and gala dress rehearsals, I have always been amused at the line of photographers skirting the stage, sounding like so many summer bugs as their cameras clicked away.
There are the inexperienced-for-dance newspaper photogs who do, indeed, handle their cameras like machine guns, hoping for that one special shot to just happen to fall in among the hundreds their cameras take.
How exciting it is to watch the genuine dance photographer who knows, as amitava does, to wait and be ready for those "money shots" by being aware of what the dancer is doing and by being poised at precisely the right instant to snap it.

My favorite ballet photographers are those who take good pictures of my favorite dancers. So I, too, greatly admire Steven Caras and Paul Kolnik. There's a stunning Caras photo of Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins in "Sophisticated Lady," the farewell piece Martins choreographed for her, which hangs on my wall. In my bookcase there's a static Paul Kolnik photo of Suzanne and me at the Kennedy Center. There'd be more movement in that one if you could see me shaking.

I think we should make a distinction between those photographers who take photos of dancers in performance and those who take posed photographs. The distinction is usually clear in New York City Ballet brochures. Those that elicit the most comment on Ballet Talk are of corps members posing in parks, museums, or on rooftops. I prefer the performance photos.

I quite agree re. Nina Alovert and Marc Haegeman. I also admire Mikhail Logvinov and Hidemi Seto. I always particularly like photographers who capture the atmosphere, or essence, of the particular dancer/work being performed.

My list would include:

Alexei Brodovich for his classic book Ballet which has great swirly corps-rushing like-water-across-the-stage pictures of 1940's Ballet Theater productions (It includes some nice Cotillion and Balustrade photos)

Walker Evans for his anti-romantic pictures for a Fortune article, including a stark picture of Davilova doing making and a picture of a flower being pinned to a dress of a ballerina, as if to the bark of a tree

Cartier-Bresson's pictures of Russian ballet in his Russia book

Also I believe Inge Morath took some nice ballet phots.

Definitely having the limitation of 36 photographs to a roll of film made better photographers of everyone.

Keith Money. Gordon Anthony. George Platt Lynes. Barbara Morgan for her Graham photographs. Bert Stern for his photographs of his ex, Allegra Kent and fellow dancers like Villella, even if you did behave like a major league jerk, Bert.....

Great topic, bart, thanks.

In addition to those mentioned above, I greatly admire Rosalie O'Connor. I find her work poetic, and even if I hadn't already known it, I think I would have guessed that she was a dancer herself.

Roy Round has taken beautiful dance photos.

I agree: her pictures a very soft and poetic, simply beautiful.
The other one that comes to my mind is Jacques Moatti. Now, I do not know if it is because he gets tremendous funding by the POB or the French Governement and therefore can afford many rolls of films and come up with "THE" perfect pic, but they are always splendid. I always feel like I am at the front row of Opera Garnier when I see his pictures.

I am dating myself a bit, but what about Jack Mitchell?

And me too, Herb Migdoll.

Cylla von Tiedemann
Her webpage
She does most of the photos for the NBoC, Toronto Dance Theatre, and other major Canadian companies.

I should also mention former NBoC dancer Johan Persson. He brings a unique perspective to his photos.

Paolo Galli, Rosalie O'Connor, and Marc Haegeman.

Rosalie! Yes, she's doing some fine work.

I, too was inspired by Swope.... I like what Paul K. does, very much. Some of his non-ballet photos are very interesting.

I also love many images by Costas, who is an interesting person -- was a mathematics teacher for many years.

When I started to read this forum, I was trying to remember the name of a Russian photographer who made a wonderful image of Balanchine. Back in the late 80's early 90's I found some blank greeting cards with this photo pasted on the front. I bought only two of them and (fool that I was) gave them to my 2 favorite NYCB dancers.

So-----thanks to Google, here is his name and a portion of his bio for all of you from eBay (where else??). He sometimes still sells images on B'way, outside, near Lincoln Center!

"Vladimir Bliokh, world renowned premier Ballet & Dance photographer, was the official photographer of the Bolshoi & the Kirov Ballet for NOVOSTI Press Agency (APN) in Moscow, Russia where he worked from 1960 till 1976 before he left to the United States. He lives and works in New York City for the past 28 years.Vladimir began photography at the age of 10. As a teenager in the 50's, he also was a student at the Bolshoi Academy of Ballet."

I'd like to add my voice for Maurice Seymour. His studio photographs are a stunning example of that genre and his era.

With the advent of high speed film and the increasing acceptance of photographers in rehearsals and some performances, dance photography has really moved towards the live action shot, and there are wonderful practitioners of that working now, many of whom have been mentioned here. But I find that I miss the deliberate quality of some of the older studio shots, as well as the highly nuanced lighting/shading that often comes with that form.

I never saw Danilova dance, but I learned a great deal about her as a performer by looking at Seymour's photos.

I also voted for Maurice Seymour, that was a wonderful studio!
Anne Barzel once told me, though, that they were actually two brothers, Maurice and Seymour.

I also like Marc Haegeman for richness of color, contrast of light and dark (especially those shots against a dark background) and the way he conveys the three-dimensionality of the dancers' form.

His website is an education in Bolshoi/Kirov dancing and helps me follow the erudite comparisons of Russian dancers I love to read on Ballet Talk. Here's a LINK:

For Ballet Lovers Only

Fred Fehl has always been my favorite. When you see his photographs---you are there seeing the performance. I quote below some of his comments:

"To me ballet is the most fascinating and beautiful movement of the human body that can be captured by the camera. I photograph various aspects of the performing arts, but nothing is as gratifying to me as classical ballet. And I always prefer photographing during performance, because a performer alone offers the flow of movement as well as the artists' highest emotional expression. Of course, two things are all-important. First, one must be an expert photographer and, second, one must have a keen sense and understanding of dance movement. The most interesting experience for me is showing these action photographs to the artists and watching their amazement, surprise, enthusiasm--or, sometimes, disappointment when they see that they did something wrong, for the pictures show them as the audience saw them. Choreographers who dance in their own ballets will infrequently notice some step they wish they had not done and make corrections for the next performance."

I love the work of Costas. One of my favorite ballet photos is a Costas image of a performance of Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto 2. While the corp is moving in the background Merrill Ashley is seen sailing through space in a a grand jete. The expression of serene regal beauty on her face combined with the sense of movement of the corp is stunning.

Although Bert Stern is not a dance photographer per se, the photo of Allegra Kent and Eddie Villela in the Bukagu pose is wonderful. We have a poster size of it matted and framed in our bedroom. It's an erotic image but with a admirable subtlety to it.

And finally there is a photographer who's name excapes me at the moment! :bash: He took pictures of Balanchine and his dancer's in the 50's. All are studio settings with the dancers in costumes. The one's that literally give me the chills, in a good way , are of Tanny LeClercq posed in her La Valse costume. This photgrapher also took some amazing pictures of Maria Tallchief and Jerry Robbins in Prodigal Son. I find his work very atmospheric, moody and mysterious. Lord I wish I could remember his name!!

So true. Easily the nicest photo moment for me in the past year was when one girl who really struggles with flexibility saw a picture of herself in saut de chat and said "Did you photoshop that?"

There are plenty of "eeeeuws" too, but then my subjects are teenagers, so...

---I think the name that Perky was looking for might be George Platt Lyons, but not sure. Also, Roger Wood in England photographed their first two tours (1951, 1952) there and published a little book on it. That was very good.

For the Souvenir Book in 1972 or so, there were WONDERFUL photographs by Michael Avedon, who is now affiliated with the company as a make-up and hair artist. The images he took, which include Patricia McBride, Helgi Tomasson, Gelsey Kirland, and Peter Martins, are stunning. Many of those images were used to form the silhouettes on tee shirts/sweats now sold at the gift bar (I got one in 1975 and another in the 1980's when the images were single, with no "shadow effect").
Personally, I did not care for Mitchell or Migdol.

Martha Swope and Marc Haegeman

[quote=ViolinConcerto,Nov 3 2005, 09:00 AM]
---I think the name that Perky was looking for might be George Platt Lyons, but not sure.



That's the one. Thanks!!

Really?!? I had no idea -- how fascinating!

Perky, couldnt it have been Walter E. Owen? At least I have a book with some absolutely wonderful photos by him.
And why has nobody mentioned Houston Rogers in England?
Serge Lido in France?
And then we had quite a marvellous photographer in Denmark, Mydtskov.

Ms. Mydtskov is (was?) the mother of former NYCB dancer, Jeppe Mydtskov. I THINK she was the official photograher for the Royal Danish Ballet.

I have been most interested to read posters choice as many distinguished photographers have been included, but also some who I think are pretty awful photographers from a technical point of view and who also, publish unflattering photographs of dancer eg a moment when the foot appears unstretched when landing or a moment when one corps de ballet member is out of line. Ballet photography should also be an art not mere reportage or photo-verite. Best moments should be published after all photographers have the luxury of choosing one photograph out of what might be 10, 20, or even 30 or more shots. How could Anthony Crickmay and Zoe Dominic be missed out as important photographers? And of todays photographers what of the 'art work' of Petra Bober? Personally I have always thought of Jennie Walton's contribution as significant as does another poster.

Yes, yes.. how could I forget him---I once had two of his books. I loved his photos of French dancers in the 40's. Some very striking ones of Jeanmaire. His books introduced me to Petit, Babilee and Paris Opera dancers before they hit my shores.

Apologies but earlier posting did not register. Every so often I look at my collection of Serge Lido books and am literally entranced at the way he captures the physical and personal attributes of dancers. I have his books from the 50's
and they are full of glamour and chic which is to me typical of his style and render his subjects as slaves to his preferred image whilst preserving their own particular qualities. They are in many cases also great photographs.

I don't know why you think this dates you, Mel. Migdoll is still the official photographer for the Joffrey, and he does lovely work.

Names you might not know:
Elizabeth Gorelik is extraordinary at photographing the out-there post-modern dancers aaround the bay Area. Google her; she's fantastic.

I agree that Marty Sohl can catch some of the most interesting transitions, especially good at hyperballet.

King, who's a BA poster, has some remarkably beautiful images; he sees things I've seen in dancers but rarely seen in photographs.

And yes of course, Swope, and Costas.

And the immortals, Barbara Morgan, George Platt Lynes, Maurice Seymour, and Baron.
.........
I didn't mentin Marc Haegeman before, but agree wih many posters -- he sees line, and the archetype in the moment, which are probably the two most important attributes a dance photographer needs (aside from catching the feel of a movement, but only a very few can do that and do the other two; Morgan could do all three, but she had Graham's costumes toi help her, since htey often revealed the wake of the impulse).

Others may catch fascinatng accidents, but Marc sees the canonic moments.

I've always liked Paul Good's work. I know he does all of the shots for Discount Dance Supply and the few times I've met him he's really nice and very professional. I was just on his website and his work is amazing!! He's in the New York area and I'm back in CA now. :-(

As a "sometimes" ballet photographer from a few years ago, this thread has been very interesting for me, providing a lot of information on some new people that I should look up for their photographs.

Just based on the photographs I have seen in the past, it is amazing to me of the variety of images on ballet that have been taken. For example, I just looked at some wounderful interpretive ballet images on this forum (under the "Aesthetics" thread) by Marc Haegeman.

Most of my ballet photography in the past has been in B&W, since somehow that medium seemed to provide the artistic feeling that I was feeling. I did take some color, but it did not seem to work as well. What do you think, do you like B&W ballet photos better than color?

In addition, in the past sometimes only B&W film was fast enough to capture/stop the movement of dance. Of course, now digital imagery has changed that. Marc's photos mentioned above are both in color, and often use controlled blur to artistically communicate the feeling of movement and action.

Thanks to all of you for your suggstions and contributions to the list of "best" ballet photographers!


donb

I also have a strong preference for black and white when it comes to Ballet photography. I began taking ballet pictures about 15 years ago and started off in black and white but was pretty much forced to switch to colour as I don't have space at home for a darkroom and doing my own developing became time consuming. Sending my film to a studio was expensive and the results were often poor. I use colour reluctantly but some results have been good.

I like color if it's used well, but it seems to me that it's a dicier business than black-and-white. I loved many of the color photographs in the recent Costas collection, but was disturbed by the garish tint of many of them -- very distracting and unattractive.

Color is tricky especially on stage, but it's safe to say that the introduction of digital photography made it a lot easier in this respect - easier in the sense that one has a much better control over it than in analogue.

And then there's this one: http://www.dailyutahchronicle.com/media/st...ahchronicle.com

Is there possibly a worse angle for shooting an arabesque?

I can't confess to know many dance photographers but one that I admire a great deal is Johan Persson. He retired as Royal Ballet principal a few years back with a knee injury and turned to photography instead. His photographs make me feel like I'm right on stage with the dancers. And he does beautifully intimate black and white ones of dancers in rehearsal - I've heard his camera clicking from the wings during an insight day or masterclass.

It could be worse. Imagine putting the arabesque into attitude (adding to the angles). Then dressing the ballerina in a tutu and turning her head over her left shoulder so she's smiling directly at the camera. Voila! You have Miami City Ballet's advertisisng image for their 4th program this season.

This awkward, static shot was meant to illustrate the theme title for the program: "Poetry in Motion."

Here is one you probably have not heard much of- Bob Mooney. He lives in Naples, Florida, and mostly photographs Miami City Ballet. His website http://home.earthlink.net/~bobmooney/wings.html has a few photos- all black and whites, some with a sepia tone- and these are actually not very recent. However, his work just continues to improve- his sense of timing and composition is priceless. He shoots most performances and some rehersals-so no posed shots-and probably has photos dating back many years. He has a way of capturing the essence of the dancer AND the dance that I have rarely seen.

thanks, liebling. I loved the sepia shots in this portfoliio especially, and the sense of dancers in repose mostly, waiting to go on. This is not your usual portfolio, and more striking because of that.

Was that Edward Villella seen from the back on the last shot?

Yes- I think so. I wish that the photographer would add some of his more recent work- he also has color shots, including very stunning performance shots of Stravinsky Violin Conserto.

I don't like dance photography much, because for me the through-line is very important in dance, and still photography eliminates this entirely when it shows us a bit of the world as though frozen in a lightning-flash, as it usually does; in other words it uses dance as material for something else, some striking images. Sometimes I find these are more or less rewarding in themselves, but they're not pictures of dance anymore, not for me.

For example, there are a lot of very handsome images on Marc Haegeman's generous website, but I don't see much dance in many of them (sure, maybe it's me), even in some of the ones in the "Color and Motion" gallery there, where it looks like he's made some longer exposures, so that the dancers' images are blurry because they were moving. This can also be another kind of strangely striking and beautiful image, but dance doesn't look like that to me either.

There was a time though when I saw photographs by Paul Kolnik which did show dancing to me: They were performance photographs, not posed, and they looked, superficially, like his timing was just a little "off," like he had made the exposure when a dancer was just coming into or just going out of a pose, and sometimes there was just the slightest blur due to motion, and I felt I was seeing dancing when I was looking at a still image! When I met him, I blurted out what I thought of his miraculous pictures, including my description of their looking like his timing was a tiny bit "off," and I don't think I ever saw any more like that. (There aren't any up on his website, either.) I've thought ever since that he took my remarks the wrong way and got real careful about his timing! *! *! *! *! (That's the sound of me banging my head against the wall.)

But of course there are moments when dancers are motionless in the same characteristic ways they move. I didn't post in the discussion of the recent Costas book, mainly because of my aversion to this subject (but also because of the frequently garish colors and somewhat repetitious poses remarked on there by some others), but I do remember from perusing a library copy of the book a small photo Costas had taken of Patricia McBride, in Who Cares?. She's standing on one point, with one arm straight up and her index finger pointing forward, and her eyebrows are raised. Having seen (and loved to have seen) her dancing, this still image evoked for me the sparkling quality her dancing often had in a way no one else's had. Sometimes you see miracles, not just on stage, but even on paper.

I can't believe no-one has mentioned Christopher Jean-Richard, he shoots for Tulsa Ballet and has some of the best performance shots I've ever seen. Google tells me he probably was a dancer himself, and it really shows.

If these are Jean Richard's photo's on the Tulsa Ballet website, I'm having a hard time finding an attribution (although the design company is.)

Thank you for the heads up, mississippiqueen. We don't have many posters who tell us about Tulsa Ballet.

Please feel free to introduce yourself on our Welcome Forum by clicking the "New Topic" button in the upper right corner of the forum.

http://www.tulsaballet.org/inside_tulsa_ballet/gallery.htm
When you go to this gallery you'll find over 300 photos of Chris Wheeldon's Midsummer Night's Dream, attributed to Jean Richard. Wow! What a goldmine, thanks Mississippi Queen.